Bakhita

Bakhita, family (3), Slave traders (2), Arab man, Arab daughters (2), Italian Family (4), Nuns (3), young man

(Enter Bakhita, Family)

Josephine Bakhita was born into a good family in Sudan in 1869.  She used to play tag with her brothers and sisters, and eat good meals, and was always happy.  She always had a great big smile, and laughed all the time!  She would hug each person in her family and say "I love you."

(Enter slave traders)

One day Arab slave traders came. Her family screamed and pointed at them!  Then they ran away and hid. But the slave traders grabbed Bakhita and said "You're coming with us!"  Then they laughed maniacally.

Bakhita looked frantically for her brothers and sisters, but could not find them. so the traders took her away.

(Exit family)

They made her walk very far.  If she tripped, they would whip her until she got up again.  She was so sacred, that eventually she even forgot her name.  The Slave traders said "What's your name?"

Trembling, she said "I don't know!"

They threatened to whip her again, so she said "Bakhita!  My name is Bakhita!"  Bakhita was a word that meant Lucky, but it was not her real name.

The slave traders said "Become Muslim, or we will kill you!"

Bakhita just shrugged and said "Ok!"

(Enter Arab family)

One day she was sold to a very Wealthy Arab man. The arab man sang "If I were a rich man..." and danced around, jiggling his portly belly. The Arab Man stroked his beard as he looked Bakhita up and down. He said “Yes, you will do nicely! You will be the servant to my daughters.”  

The arab man paid the slave traders. 

The Slave Traders gave each other high fives, then said "Let's go kidnap some more slaves!"  And they skipped away gleefully.

(Exit slave traders)

 At first the Arab Family treated Bakhita well, but then one day she accidentally broke a vase.  The two daughters gasped and pointed fingers of accusation at her. The Arab man was outraged! he yelled “You no good slave!”  Then he kicked her so hard that she could not move.  

Then the girls began to whip her. Finally, they drew a pattern on her skin in flour, then traced the pattern with a razor, then poured salt into the pattern so that it would leave permanent scars.  Bakhita cried because of the great pain!

But the girls stood back and admired their artwork, saying “It’s so beautiful!”

(Enter Italian family)

One day an Italian Family came by, squabbling as they walked. They gestured dramatically with their hands, and said things like “mama mia!” and “I want a gelato” and “Silenzio Bruno!”.

The Arab man said “Hey guys, wanna buy a slave?”

The Arab girls said “We decorated her for you!”

One of the Italians said “Mama mia! She is the Ferrari of slaves!”

So they bought her.

(Exit Arab Family)

The Italian man said (in his best Italian accent) “Bakhita, you will come with me to Italy, and look after my kids. You will be their nanny!”  The Italians treated her very well. One of the girls, named Michelle said “Would you like some gelato?”

The Italian man said “Baklhita, I want you to take Michelle to the convent for a few days, to see if she would like to become a nun.”

Bakhita smiled and said “Yes sir.”

(Enter Nuns) When it was time to leave the Italian man said “Ok, Bakhita, come on now!  we are going back to Sudan!”

But Bakhita said “No! Please, I want to be a nun!”  And she clung tightly to the nuns.

The man said “Bakhita, you are our slave, and you cannot choose that. Come on.”

But one of the nuns said “Slavery is illegal in Italy, and in Sudan, so you can’t have any slaves.   She is free to make her own choice!” 

So the Italian family left, and Bakhita was welcomed to join the nuns!  Bakhita and the Nuns danced happily, while the Italian family left.

(Exit Italian family)

When she became a Catholic, she took the name “Josephine” and so became known as Sister Josephine Bakhita. She soon had a reputation for being holy! 

(Enter young man)

 When a young man once asked her “What would you do if you met your captors again?”  she said “I would kneel at their feet and kiss their hands, because if it were not for them I would never have become Catholic!”

In her old age, Bakhita was confined to a wheelchair.  But she remained cheerful, even when sick.  The last thing she ever said was “I am so happy-  Our Lady, Our Lady!”  Then she died.

St Josephine Bakhita-

Pray for us!

Maximilian Kolbe

Maximilian Kolbe

Maximilian, mom, dad, Russian soldiers (2), Mary, Free Masons (2), Nazis (2), Jews (3), Priests (2), escaping prisoner, crying prisoner

(Enter Max, Mom, dad on stage)

Maximilian was 10 years old, living in Poland, and was eating dinner with his mom and dad.

Suddenly, they heard a knock at the door.  Mom squealed in fear, and Maximillian jumped. But Dad just got to his feet, wiping hsi mouth with his napkin.

(Enter Russian Soldiers)

They opened the door, and 2 Russian soldiers walked in. Speaking to Maximilian’s dad, in ridiculous Russian accents, they said “You are under arrest for fighting for the freedom of Poland against Russia.”

Mom cried out "Nooo!", fell to the ground, and clung to her husband's knees. 

But dad was brought out, and was hung to death.  

Mom and Maximillian cried as they hugged each other.

(mom, dad, soldiers leave stage)

Maximilian cried and cried about losing his dad. While he was praying, he said to God “What do you want from me?  What will become of me?”

(Enter Mary)

Suddenly, Mary appeared to him. In her hands she held 2 crowns, a red one and a white one.  Mary said “Choose your crown.  The red one is martyrdom, meaning you will die for your faith.  The white one is purity, meaning you will be celibate.”

Maximilian said “Celebrate? I like celebrating!” 

Mary shook her head. "Not celebrate. Celibate. It means you'll never get married."

Maximillian said "Oh. So either never get married or die for my faith. Tough choice. Can't I have both?'

Mary smiled, and placed both crowns on Maximillians head.

(Exit Mary, enter Free Masons)

When Maximilian grew up, he became a priest. He gave his pastoral blessing to the audience.

 One day in Rome he saw a protest by Free Masons. Free Masons were a group of men who hated the Catholic Church. They raised banners at the Vatican that mocked the Church. They made moose antlers with their hands and said "Nanana booboo. The church is weak and nasty!"

Maximilian said “We need to create our own little army that fights for the Church!”

(Exit Freemasons)

So when he got back to Poland, he started a magazine to get Catholic information and ideas out. 

Maximillian declared "I will call my magazine Rycerz Niepokalanej!"

The audience yelled "What?"

Maximillian repeated "Rycerz Niepokalanej!"

The audience yelled "What?"

Maximillian shook his head and said "It's Polish for "The Knight of the Immaculata""

The audience nodded and said "Oh!"

But some audience members said "I still don't know what that means.

(Enter Nazis, Jews, Priests)

But those were the days of the rise of the Nazis. The audience booed. Nazi soldiers marched around stiff legged, doing the Hitler salute, and yelling at people in German. They invaded Poland. 

The Jews and Priests were terrified. They trembled and hugged each other.

Maximilian wrote an article in his newspaper that said “Nazis are bad guys. Go back to Germany.” 

So the Nazis arrested him, along with many Jews and other priests, and sent them to a concentration camp.

(Enter escaping prisoner and crying prisoner)

In the death camp, the Jews, priests, Maximilian and the other prisoners had to work very hard, while the Nazis bossed them around. They knew that eventually they would be killed. 

One of the prisoners managed to escape while the Nazis weren't looking. 

(Escaping prisoner leave stage like secret agent)

 The Nazis made the prisoners stand in front of them, and said “Because one prisoner escaped, 10 of you will be starved to death.” Then he counted off 10 prisoners, not including Maximilian, and said “Follow me.”

One of the prisoners began to cry, and said “Please, not me! I have a wife and kids!”

Maximilian stepped forward and said “Pick me instead. I’m a priest, I don’t have a wife.”

So the Nazi said “Fine.” 

(Crying prisoner leave the stage)

The selected prisoners were locked into a room, where they were given no food or water. Maximilian led them in singing praise songs to God, like "My Lighthouse" and "Jesus loves me this I know".  

One by one they died. Last of all, Maximilian was still alive, so the Nazi said “We need this room. Since you are taking too long to die, we will have to inject you with carbolic acid.” 

So Maximilian was given the needle and he died. 

Maximilian Kolbe-  pray for us.

St Faustina

Faustina( F-aw-stee-na) , Natalia, dancers, Jesus, 1st group of Nuns (2), 2^nd group of nuns (2), 3^rd group of nuns (2), artist, Angel, People in the vision

St Faustina

St Faustina was a polish nun who had many visions, and her diary has become an inspiration to Catholics all over the world.  Among her visions were visions about Heaven, Hell and Purgatory

(Enter Faustina, Natalia, Dancers)

There once was a young girl named Faustina.  One day she went to a dance with her sister, Natalia.  Everyone was dancing the disco.  When Faustina started dancing, the others stopped, and clapped to the beat, saying "Go Fausty, go Fausty go."  Faustina showed everyone her sweet breakdancing moves.

But suddenly it looked to Faustina like everyone else froze!  (Enter Jesus) Faustina suddenly saw a vision of Jesus dying on the cross. Faustina stopped dancing immediately.  Jesus said “Faustina, I want you to become a nun!”  Then he disapeared.  

Faustina's friends said "Hey Fausty, show us some more sweet moves!"

But Faustina said "I'm sorry, but I have to go!"

(Exit Friends, sister.  Enter first group of nuns.)

So Faustina went home, packed her bags, and went to Warsaw.  When she came to a convent and asked to become a nun, the nuns said “No.”

 (1^st group of nuns leave the stage, enter 2nd group of nuns)

 She went to another convent, but the nuns said “no.”

(Exit second group of nuns, enter 3rd group)

Finally she found a convent where the nuns said  “Ok, fine.  Get to work” and made her their servant. 

 She had to wash floors and clean up after the other nuns.

(Enter Jesus)

In the convent, Faustina had another vision of Jesus.  Once more the other people on stage became like statues. Jesus said "You need to pray for mercy.  Say 'For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world'."

Faustina said "For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."

Jesus said “Great, now say that 50 times every day for the rest of your life!  Get a picture of me painted."

(Exit Jesus, Nuns, enter Artist)

So she told an artists what Jesus looked like, and the artists painted him.  

(Exit Artist, enter Angel)

One day in a vision, an angel appeared to Faustina, pointed and said “Look”.

(enter people)

Faustina looked, and the people in her vision were skipping along on a nice road way, but at the end of the road they were falling off a cliff into Hell.  They screamed in terror as they fell!

Then she looked somewhere else, where people were climbing a difficult and rocky mountain, but at the top they entered a beautiful garden that was Heaven, and they had a party!

Faustina’s angel also brought her to Hell, where it was dark and she had to crawl into a hole.  And the audience shrieked and laughed like demons.

Then she went to Purgatory, where the audience cried as they suffered.

Then she went to Heaven, where the audience sang like angels.

Faustina's angel said.  “See Faustina?  Now you know what Hell is like, where you deserve to go.  But God has made a home for you in Heaven instead, because he loves you so much!”

St Faustina-  Pray for us!

Perpetua and Felicity

Sts Perpetua and Felicity.

This week’s saints were forced to deny their faith or die under brutal circumstances.  They chose to stand for faith, even though it would cost their lives.

Perpetua, Baby boy, Felicity, Perpetua’s Dad, Guards (2), baby girl, Christian men (3), boar, bear, leopard, mad cow.

(Enter Perpetua and Baby Boy)

There once was a woman named Perpetua.  Perpetua was 22 years old, she was beautiful, and she had a baby boy. She would cuddle her baby, and sing lullabies to him.

(Enter Felicity)

Perpetua also had a servant, named Felicity.  Felicity was pregnant, and the two women excitedly shared stories about how they would raise their kids together.  Felicity and Perpetua were Christians, and they would dance around, singing love songs to God.

(Enter Perpetua's Dad)

Perpetua’s dad did not like Christianity, and he came to the women and said “Listen girls.  Christianity is illegal. You’re gonna get captured and killed if you keep up this nonsense! No more being Christians!”

But Perpetua said “Daddy, I cannot deny the truth, and the truth is that Jesus is Lord!”

And the audience yelled “Amen!”

Her father said “We’ll see about that!” 

(Enter guards)

Then he called 2 guards, saying “Guards!   These girls are Christian!  Arrest them!”

Turning to Perpetua he said “I bet when your life is on the line, you’ll deny Jesus!”

(Exit Dad)

So Perpetua and Felicity were thrown into prison.  Perpetua's son cried when he was taken away from her, so Perpetua bribed the guard to let them into another part of the prison and let her keep her son.

Felicity said “Perpetua, you are so lucky! You get to be a martyr!  I don’t get to because I’m pregnant.”  In those days they wouldn't throw a pregnant woman into the arena because it would hurt the unborn baby.

But then she gave birth to a baby girl.

(Enter baby girl)

Felicity said “Yay!  Now I can be a martyr too!”  Her baby girl just made gurgling sounds.

(Exit Perpetua, Felicity, and babies. Enter Christian Men, boar, bear and leopard)

The day of the executions came.  First the Christian men were sent out into the arena.  They were attacked by a wild boar, a bear, and a leopard.  The crowd cheered, and chanted “One more Christian! One more Christian!”

(Exit Christian men, boar, bear and leopard. Enter Perpetua and Felicity and Dad)

Perpetua and Felicity trembled with fear.  Perpetua's Dad said “See Perpetua!  Is that how you want to die?  Deny Jesus and live!”

But Perpetua said “We will never deny Jesus-  instead we will die for him!”

Dad said "What about your babies?"

Perpetua said "They were adopted by Christians while we were off stage."

(Enter mad Cow)

So Perpetua and Felicity were sent out into the arena by the guards.  A mad cow was released, and after mooing maniacally, it gored them to death. 

Sts Perpetua and Felicity-  Pray for us!

Jerome

Jerome, Christians (2) friends (2), Paula, Blaesilla, people (2), Bishop

(Jerome, Christians on stage)

When Jerome was a teenager, he lived in Rome.  He practiced Greek, by smashing things on the ground and yelling "Opa!", and he practiced Latin, by singing Opera.  But when he saw Christians,  he would shake his head and pat them on the head like they were puppies, saying "You Christians are nice... but not very bright!"

(Enter Bishop) But eventually Jerome became Christian himself, and the bishop baptized him.

(Exit Bishop, Christians, Enter friends and Paula and Blaesilla) 

 But he loved to party! He and his friends and Paula and Blaesilla would dance and sing, and would do all kinds of crazy things, and get drunk, staggering around and puking and flirting with lamposts, and he and his friends would laugh and laugh about the sins they committed.

(friends, Paula and Blaesilla leave)

But after the party his friends would leave,  and Jerome would go to the graves of the martyrs, and he’d feel really bad.  He started thinking about Hell, and how awful that would be, and he was terrified.  He trembled, and chewed his fingernails.  He would start striking his chest and crying and saying “Help me to be better, God!”

(Bishop, friends, Paula + Blaesilla enter)

The local bishop ordained Jerome a priest, laying his hands on him.  His friends congratulated him. When Jerome preached, he would say “We party way too much, and just live for our own pleasure.  I think we should fast and pray and work, and live a simple life.”  His friends, including Paula and Blaesilla, changed their lives, and started making sacrifices.  But Blaesilla quickly got sick, and died.

(People enter) 

People said “See?  Jerome made her make sacrifices and now she’s dead, it’s all his fault!” 

Other people said “I also think there’s some hanky panky going on between him and Paula.”

The crowd said "Ooooh..."

Jerome and Paula both said “No.”  but the people suspiciously crossed their arms and said “MMM-hmmm” and looked at them in a knowing way.

(Scene Change- everyone leave but Jerome)

So Jerome left Rome all together, and became a hermit, a kind of monk who lives alone, near Bethlehem.   He spent his time writing, and translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin.  The books he translated would become known as the “Latin Vulgate” Bible, and would become the first full Bible translated into the language of the people.

Jerome died as a hermit, and was buried near Bethlehem.

St Jerome-  Pray for us!

St Gerard

St Gerard

Gerard, Father, Mother, other tailor, boy, fishers(3), priests (2), poor (3), Hanky lady

Gerards’ father was a tailor, and he was always creating fashionable outfits.  One day when Gerard was 12, his father died.  Gerard’s mother sent him to work for another tailor, but this man was curel, and would beet Gerard severely.  Gerard never told anyone, but eventually the man was was caught by Gerards’  Mother, and was forced to quit.

Gerard went on to be a priest.  He had a reputation for holiness, and could perform miracles.  One day a boy fell off a cliff, and died.  Gerard helped the boy up, and said like Dr. Frankenstien  “You’re alive, a-li-i-i-ve!” 

Another time there was a group of fishers out in a boat on the water, and a storm came up. The boat was tossed on the waves, and fishers screamed saying “We are going to die!”  Suddenly Gerard came walking on water to where they were and said “Follow me!”, and they all rowed the boat after him to where they were safe.

Yet another time when the priests were handing out bread to the poor, the priests said “This is not nearly enough bread!”  Gerard said “I got it”, did a little a prayer, and the bread was multiplied.

Gerard could also look at you and read your conscience, and know what sins you committed.  And he could be in 2 places at once!

Though he was known for being a saint, a lady accused him saying “This man is the father of my child!”.  The crowd gasped, and whispered “scandalous!” 

But Gerard just remained silent.

So eventually the lady said “JK, LOL. It was another man.”

And the crowd laughed with relief.

One day while walking, Gerard dropped his hanky.  A lady ran to him and said “sir, you dropped this!”  But Gerard said “Keep it, you may need it one day!”

Gerard got tuberculosis, coughed like crazy, and died when he was only 29 years old.

But after he was dead, the lady who found the hanky one day was pregnant.  But she was in great pain, and thought the baby in her womb would die.  She remembered the saints hanky, so she held it to her belly, and suddenly she felt better.  She later gave birth to a healthy baby.

St Gerard-  Pray for us!

 

St Augustine

St Augustine

Augustine, friends(2), Manicheans(2), Ambrose, Monica,  Mastodon skeleton, scientists (2)

(Augustine, friends on stage)

When Augustine was a young man, he just partied all day and night. He would get drunk and get high and do naughty things. One day Augustine and his friends snuck into a neighbor's yard, where there was a pear tree. They stole every single pear, laughing menacingly as they did so.

(Enter Monica)

When Augustine saw his mom, Monica, he tried to hide the pears, and look super innocent.

Monica always prayed that one day he would become a Christian.  She would kneel and cry, saying “Please Lord, bring him to the true faith!”

(Monica and friends leave, enter Manicheans)

One day Augustine joined a group called the Manicheans. They all believed that the body was evil, but that the spirit was good.  So to celebrate their beliefs, they would eat beans, and fart, saying “I am releasing the spirit of the beans!”  At Church they would all fart to the tune of staying alive. 

But Augustine was the farting king, so the Manicheans would say “Gus, You da man!”

But one day Augustine said “Something about this religion doesn’t smell right.  Their science is terrible!”  He held his nose and shoed the Manicheans away. 

(Manicheans exit, enter Ambrose and Monica)

Augustine loved science, and he said “Religion and science should agree, or there’s a problem!” So he continued searching for the true religion. One day he heard a guy named Ambrose speaking about Jesus. Ambrose was so smart, that Augustine said “This must be the true religion at last!”

So Augustine became a Christian, and said "God I am sorry for all of my sins!" and Monica did a happy dance. 

St Augustine said to God "Our souls are restless until they rest in you!"

(Exit Monica and Ambrose)

TRINITY ENDING

Augustine was super smart. One day he declared "I will now dedicate my prodigious intelligence to contemplating the mysteries of the Trinity!"

The audience was very impressed, so they all said "Ooooh!"

(Enter child)

But as he considered the trinity, he walked along the beach, making profound thinking sounds as he flexed his brain.

There was a child playing in the sand! The child had dug a hole, and was busy filling it with water from a bucket. The child ran back and forth with the bucket, filling it with water in the ocean, and dumping it in his hole. Soon, the hole was overflowing, and the water was flowing back into the ocean.

Augustine watched for a while before saying "Hey kid! What are you trying to do?"

The child looked at him and said. "I'm trying to get the whole ocean into my hole."

Augustine laughed. He said "You can't fit the massive ocean in your little hole!"

The child smiled and said "Well you can't fit the whole trinity in your tiny brain!"

Then the child disappeared.

(Exit child)

Augustine went on to be a great saint, and was even declared a doctor of the church! Later when reflecting on his sinful life, he said "“I was not yet in love with you, and I was still bound by the chains of my sins."

St Augustine, Pray for us!

ALTERNATE ENDING WHEN DISCUSSING SCIENCE OR EVOLUTION

(Enter Scientists)

But even as a Christian, Augustine found that the Bible seemed to say things about the history of the planet that did not make sense.  Augustine said “When you read Genesis, I think the word ‘day’ probably means something like ‘stage’ and has more to do with what is being revealed than an actual 24 hour time period.”  Scientists nodded their heads in a knowing way.

(Enter Mastodon)

Augustine was not only one of the smartest Christians around, he was also a very smart scientist!  He studied astronomy, looked at the stars, and was able to predict eclipses.  One day he even dug up the skeleton of a mastodon!  Mastodons were ancient giant elephants.  But Augustine had trouble figuring out how the pieces went together, so he thought he had found a giant human skeleton!  He said “This guy must have been gargantuan!”

All the other scientists of Augustine's day (4th century) shook their heads in agreement, because from what they knew it made sense.

Augustine is a Church Father, and is the Patron Saint of Paleontologists-  people who dig up dinosaur bones.

St Augustine-   Pray for Us!